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Auction: 25113 - Orders, Decorations and Medals - e-Auction
Lot: 27

The China 1842 awarded to Able Seaman D. Davis, Royal Navy, who saw service against the slavers off West Africa - notably in the capture of the Formidable - and the Dyak pirates of Borneo, including an action in which he was wounded whilst being pinned to the mast by a cutlass

China 1842 (David Davis, H.M.S. Wanderer.), original suspension, very fine

David Davis was a native of Llantwit Major and joined the Falcon in 1829 at the Cape of Good Hope. He was on the Buzzard when she took the slaver Formidable in December 1834 after a brisk action, Formidable was found to be carrying 700 slaves. Davis provided a written submission to the British Commissioners in 1835 in which he describes the taking of the vessel and his role in it. A painting of the action by Huggins is held by the National Maritime Museum.

Davis took a very active part in the anti-slavery war subsequently serving in Revenge from October 1832-March 1834, Sea Flower from March-June 1834, Buzzard from July 1834-May 1838, Curlew from May 1839-February 1842 and Wanderer from February 1842-January 1844.

Serving in China in the Wanderer in 1842, his Medal was sent to him at home in March 1854, the medal roll being annotated “Sent to Party 25 Mar ’54 at Lantwitt Major” (sic), Davis having left the Royal Navy in 1844. After his death in a carting accident in 1878, a local newspaper recalled:

'...[Davis] was a man whose history is worth being recorded. He started life when only twelve years of age as a stable-boy, at Dunlands, under the Rev. Robert Carne, of that place. At the age of sixteen he joined the Royal Navy, and for many years distinguished himself in several severe battles with pirates, more particularly with the Dyaks of Borneo. He was once pinned by a cutlass to the mast, and left in that state whilst the vessel was taken and retaken, and at length being liberated, after a long and serious illness, recovered, and returned to his native soil. Had he been a good scholar he would have obtained the rank of Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, but all that could be done for him was done by the Admiralty Board of that time. The Rajah of Sarawak had a great partiality for him, and constantly wrote to him. Mr. David [sic] spent some time in Mr. Talbot's former yacht after he had left the Royal Navy. Large sums of prize money were paid to him, and he was one of the first persons in the Llantwitt district who introduced steam thrashing machines, drills, and other useful and improved agricultural implements. Thus went the principal portion of his prize money, and latterly he having been unfortunate in his speculations.’

The Description Books for Curlew and Wanderer appear to corroborate the actions with pirates, stating that he had a musket ball scar on the left side and a cutlass wound to the head; sold together with copied research.

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Estimate

Starting price
£750